The Oyster Question: Scientists, Watermen, and the Maryland Chesapeake Bay since 1880

摘要

Oysters have served humans and nature well throughout history, sometimes as food, sometimes as natural resources supporting economies and individual livelihoods, sometimes as icons for community identity and regional heritage, and more recently as marine environmentalists filtering and removing pollution from waterways while also providing habitat for other marine animals. The literature on oysters, while vast, is not an integrated field of scholarship. Scientists, experts and writers stick to what they know best: the marine biologist to the natural history, life cycle and reproduction; the economist to harvests, markets and wealth; and other social scientists to the community and cultural, including considerations of cuisine, regional identity and heritage.